European shares edge up as AI worries ease; InPost rallies (updated)

Zealand Pharma A/S

09/02/2026 09:24

STOXX 600 index up 0.7% as global equities rebound

Novo Nordisk shares rise after Hims & Hers halts GLP-1 pill

InPost shares surge on $9.2 billion acquisition deal

Updates with closing levels

By Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur

Feb 9 (Reuters) -
European shares climbed to a record closing high on Monday, tracking a global equity rebound after last week's selloff, as  investors turned their attention to corporate earnings and dealmaking activity including upbeat results from Italy's second-largest bank UniCredit.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.7% to 621.41 points.

Global stocks have been recovering from a volatile patch last week, triggered by concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting traditional software businesses even as industry leaders such as Alphabet GOOGL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O set fresh spending targets to develop the technology.

Friday's rebound helped the STOXX 600 notch a weekly gain, although uncertainty surrounding the technology sector remains in focus.

"There is a bit of less of a concern about some of the worst AI fears, although the radius of concern around AI started growing lately," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

"So there are now concerns about who will be the losers in the AI world and it's not just all about winners, which is what it's been for a very long time."

        The tech sector .SX8P gained 0.9% on Monday, with STMicroelectronics STMPA.PA up 9.8% after the French company said it was expanding its engagement with Amazon Web Services on compute infrastructure.

Meanwhile, UniCredit CRDI.MI was up 6.7% after it raised its profit outlook and said it would for now sit on stakes in peers bought under CEO Andrea Orcel, while easing criteria for full deals.

The EUROSTOXX banks index .SX7E gained 2.2%, and Italy's benchmark index .FTMIB rose 2%, among top performers in major European bourses.

In a relief for Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk , which has been struggling in a highly competitive weight-loss market, U.S.-based Hims & Hers  said it will stop offering its low-cost GLP-1 pill, following a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it would take action against the product.

The Wegovy maker's shares jumped 5.3%, while peer Zealand Pharma ZELA.CO added 2.1%.

M&A news also dominated the news flow on Monday. A consortium led by holding firm Advent and FedEx FDX.N has agreed to buy parcel locker company InPost INPST.AS in a $9.2 billion deal, sending shares of the Polish company up 13.5%.

NatWest NWG.L fell 5.6% after the UK lender agreed to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners for 2.7 billion pounds ($3.68 billion).

Political concerns also captured investors' attention as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signalled on Monday he would not heed calls to quit, even by the leader of his party in Scotland, after a second aide resigned from a team in crisis over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States.

Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 .FTSE recovered from earlier losses to finish up 0.2% on the day.

 (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Tasim Zahid and Chris Reese)

 ((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com))